Though the Nigeria Customs Service has always claimed that the law empowered it to look for smuggled goods in the heart of Nigerian cities by raiding markets and mounting check-points on major ways it has always shied away from stage mock combat in any city.But on Friday the 11th of November, some men of the Customs Service took the fight against smugglers to the Ota-Agege section of the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway.I have just linked the express-road after manoeuvring my way through the uneven surfaces of inner Sango roads when I ran into a combined team of Customs and Police men in front of an automobile company. The company is about 200 metres from the site of the old toll gate.I have hardly passed the gate of the auto company when the engines of about five of their vehicles came to life. They left in a convoy towards Lagos. Thus began a display of Customs cum Police bravery in the face of non-existent smugglers. They were shooting into the air persistently as they drove towards Agege. All the garage boys who had scampered into safety on the first sound of gunshots leaped onto the road to hail the departing armed men when they realised that it was a mere display.About 200 metres into Lagos State territory the Customs/Police team stopped in the middle of the road .Their vehicles were parked side-by-side, daring anyone to break the cordon. They moved on again after some minutes only to stop again after driving for about one-and-a half kilometres for another display of bravery in 'fighting smugglers'.My vehicle was initially directly behind theirs. For personal safety, I veered to the side-walk to allow other vehicles provide a shield for me. I didn't want to be a victim of deliberate discharge from an unknown Customs or Police man. Another volley of shots signaled their resumption of their journey.Their next stop was at a spot close to Ahmaddiya bus stop. They have become satisfied that the smugglers on the long stretch of road from Ota to that spot have been chased away. They parked their vehicles on one side of the road and mercifully allowed other motorists to drive past.Almost all the policemen in the team wore no uniform. They were in white round-neck singlets. They wore bullet-proof vests labeled police.Last Friday would have been a sad one for the family of any motorist that happened to be hit by a stray bullet. Family members would have faced the insurmountable task of refuting a cocktail of lies against their dead kin. It could range from the dead man attempting to disarm some men in the Customs/Police team to the sudden discovery of some arms in the dead man's car.This display of shameless bravado was between 12.30p.m. and 1.00 p.m after I had just listened to national and international news on a Nigerian private radio station. The major point of the news that afternoon was President Goodluck Jonathan's appeal to investors to see Nigeria as investors' delight. He said any investor who stayed away because of the Boko Haram menace which would soon pass away would regret his action.I asked myself if the conduct of our security forces and the seemingly entrenched culture of impunity among them are not a greater threat to the investment climate in the country than the Boko Haram menace which will definitely expire. What impression would the conduct of that joint Customs/Police team create in a foreigner either as a tourist or investor if hy was also in the traffic on that day'A former President of the country resides in Ota. And being an international figure, foreign visitors would journey through that road to see him. If the foreign visitors listened to the news on that particular radio station as I did, the shameless display of the Customs/Police team would register more on their minds than the plea of Jonathan.Boko Haram is definitely a threat to the security of the nation and a disincentive to investment. The magnitude of Boko Haram threat is vitiated by the fact that no matter how long it lasts, it will fade away. Boko Haram will either be frustrated by its failure to achieve its unattainable objectives and disperse or the government would eventually evolve a way of overwhelming them.But the culture of impunity among the country's security forces has imbued every man in uniform with an aura of invincibility. The tragedy of the current situation is that neither the authorities of the security forces nor the government has the will to tame the men who bare arms on behalf of the nation. The former hide under the cover of 'espirit de corps' while the latter simply lacks the political will to act.
Click here to read full news..
